


Trouble In Paradise

by kanakanastudio



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:21:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanakanastudio/pseuds/kanakanastudio
Summary: Sylvain gets touchy about Felix's popularity in the student body and a quarrel ensues. Add some more jealousy, a dash of idiocy (may more than a dash just throw the whole thing in there), a bit of friendly wisdom, a safe helping of swordplay and voila now we have a couple in the making!
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36
Collections: FE3H Holiday Gift Exchange





	Trouble In Paradise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imagymnasia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagymnasia/gifts).



Sylvain’s day began, as many of his days did, with a slap in the face.

  
“You told me I was pretty!” The girl in front of him was flushed red with anger, her brows furrowed. “Why did you say she was pretty too?”  
Sylvain sighed, shaking his head and staring at the ground for a moment before looking at her again. He looked pained, more from her words than the slap, which at this point fazed him about as much as a fly fazes a demonic beast. “I said she was pretty because she is. That doesn’t mean you aren’t, m’lady. You’re as beautiful as the sun is bright, outshining all others.” His pleasant words did nothing to placate the girl. She stormed off in a huff before he could continue to shower her with empty compliments.

  
“Trouble in paradise?” Felix’s familiar sarcasm was music to Sylvain’s ears. His expression and demeanor did a 180 as Felix walked up with his arms crossed and signature scowl adorning his features.

  
“Depends, I guess,” Sylvain chuckled, his wide smile showing no sign of having been dumped only moments before. “Am I trouble or paradise?” The innuendo either went over Felix’s head entirely or he pointedly ignored it because he gave no outward reaction whatsoever. Sylvain’s beaming smile withered. “Aw, c’mon Felix, let me have a little fun will you? Aren’t friends supposed to cheer each other up after a breakup?”

  
Felix rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms, hands settling to rest at his side and on his sword hilt respectively. “When the ‘relationship’ lasts less than a week, no. I’m not here to console you about trivial matters, Sylvain. You missed practice; again, I might add. It did not go unnoticed. I had to spar with the boar again.”

  
Sylvain sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘Practice’, as Felix liked to call it, was when the entire class got together in the training room and sparred with each other under their professor’s guidance and supervision. Sylvain had missed more than a few now but not for lack of interest. He enjoyed battling his friends in one on one combat even if he lost just as many as he won. All of his classmates were skilled and the professor’s tips and corrections proved incredibly insightful and were easy to put to use. The issue, however, was that Felix was almost always his partner. Felix’s skill would be reason enough to complain but that wasn’t why Sylvain was ignoring it altogether. Sylvain’s issue was that no matter how hard he tried Felix was becoming more and more of a distraction.

  
“I’m sorry, I had…I had things to do. Besides it’s not part of our grade, it’s not like the professor is going to fail me for not letting you beat me up for an hour.” _And if I go, I can’t guarantee I’ll focus on anything useful._ “Why do you care so much anyway? Isn’t it a good excuse for you to fight Dimitri without getting in trouble for it?” Sylvain raised an eyebrow and began walking towards the dining hall but Felix jogged to catch up with him.

  
“No it is _not_ a ‘good excuse to fight the boar’ because I do not wish to fight the boar,” Felix explained haughtily as Sylvain sighed and tried to walk a little bit faster. “I wish to forget about his existence entirely and— _Sylvain are you even listening to me?_ ” Felix stopped and put a hand on the door to the dining hall before Sylvain could open it. Sylvain sighed and crossed his arms.

  
“Not really, no. I’ve heard it all before, Felix. Dimitri this, Dimitri that. You hate him, you don’t hate him, you want to fight him, you’re upset that you have to fight with him.” Sylvain’s tone was getting more bitter as he spoke. “To be quite frank I care about as much about that as you care about my ‘meaningless week-long relationships’. Which is to say,” Sylvain pushed past him into the hall, jaw tense, “I simply could not care less.”

They didn’t speak for a while after that. Felix had left in a fury and Sylvain hadn’t bothered to try to dissuade him. It had been a topic of much rumor and gossip for a few days given that most of their classmates had been at dinner and witnessed the falling out but Sylvain didn’t care. Felix had his moods and this was no different: he would come around eventually. As the days turned to weeks Sylvain found his thoughts drifting more and more often to Felix. Whether he was still angry, what he was doing, who he was with. A week or so after their argument Sylvain had seen him in the library pouring over some books with Lysithea, who had been trying to shove what looked like cake in Felix’s face with a familiarity that left Sylvain with a bitter taste in his mouth. He hadn’t gone back to the library since. A week after he’d been sent to gather some herbs for one of his classes from the greenhouse and caught sight of Felix again, this time with Annette. He thought he’d heard singing, followed by something that sounded uncomfortably similar to Felix’s laughter, but he hadn’t stuck around to find out. He ended up failing the assignment but at least he had been able to sleep that night.

  
When the weeks turned into what was looking like it was going to be months, Sylvain started to lose it. The final straw was when he saw Dimitri, in all his princely glory, sitting with Felix during a lecture. Despite the most likely reason being that there simply hadn’t been any other seats available, Sylvain’s rational brain had lost the fight long ago and all that was left was a little green monster that whispered only the cruelest things to Sylvain’s heart. He ran, as fast as he could, not caring about the looks he got or the likelihood that he was simply reading to much into things. When he finally reached his room, he wilted. He hit the floor, curled up into a ball, and held his head in his hands.

  
“Why, why, _why_ ,” Sylvain muttered to himself, rocking back and forth. “I messed it up _I messed everything up_. Curse you Dimitri, Annette, Lysithea, _all of you—_ “

  
“Whoa there, buddy. Talk about your own class all you want but I’d rather you left mine out of it.” In his haste, Sylvain had forgotten to close his door. Standing in the doorframe was none other than the Golden Deer leader himself. Claude had one had on his hip and a knowing smile on his face. He crouched down to be at eye-level with Sylvain. “Sorry, I just saw you run by and you looked pretty upset. No one else is up here so I figured you might need someone to talk to.” Claude gave Sylvain one of his classic all-knowing smiles and took a seat on the floor. “So, buddy. Who broke your heart, huh?”

  
Sylvain was frozen with shock. Why did it have to be _Claude_ of all people? It was impossible to get anything past him and they weren’t exactly friends. “No one, I’m just having a bad day. You can go.”

  
“Uh, no, my friend. You have most definitely had your heart broken, I know the look. Not to mention you were listing off names like a hit-list. Definitely some serious stuff.” Claude tilted his head as if trying to get a better look at him. “Let’s see, what do they all have in common…well, first off, Dimitri and Annette are in your class, but Lysithea isn’t. I suppose they’re all different genders and ages so that doesn’t help. Maybe…someone they all interact with?” Sylvain must have let something show because Claude immediately smiled and let out a low chuckle. “Gotcha. I had a feeling from the start, but…actually, I think I’ll leave it for you to say something.” Claude stood, then leaned over to offer Sylvain a hand. “I will say this thought: I think you’re probably missing something. All that guy can think about is you, it’s painfully obvious even to us outsiders. Give it some thought, huh?”

  
Sylvain looked up in surprise, taking Claude’s hand on instinct. He let Claude pull him to his feet, letting this words sink in. “Y-yeah…sure.” The whirlwind that was Claude von Riegan nodded at that before turning and waving goodbye as he walked away. _All that guy can think about is you. Give it some thought._ Sylvain sat with Claude’s words for the rest of the evening. Even though he’d never said the name, Sylvain had a feeling Claude really had figured it out just by the clues he found in Sylvain’s face. It was irritating, to be read like an open book, but it might have been just what he needed.

  
The next morning Sylvain went to the training grounds early. By the time Felix showed up for his morning training, Sylvain was already sweating. Felix froze when he walked in, expecting to find the room empty as usual. Only he woke up before sunrise to practice his formations. Sylvain pretended not to notice him at first, wondering if Felix would leave. When he stayed and went about business as usual, Sylvain let out a tiny sigh of relief. It was peaceful, training alongside each other despite the tension, being in each other’s space without having to acknowledge it.  
After some time had passed they began to fall into their routine, circling each other with the moves taught to them by their fathers. When they crossed blades for the first time that morning Sylvain couldn’t hold back his smile. Swing. Parry. Block. Sidestep. Block. Swing. Repeat. Their familiar movements made it seem almost like a dance, the clashing of their swords the music. They lost themselves to their blades, letting out the frustration, the rage, speaking only with their movements and swordplay. Sylvain ended up in the dirt more times than Felix did but it was worth it. By the time Sylvain collapsed for the last time, Felix was offering him a hand up and Sylvain didn’t hesitate to take it. They were both filthy and breathing hard but Sylvain couldn’t help to think that it was the most beautiful Felix had ever been. His bangs were matted to his sweat and dirt streaked face and his ponytail had come undone at some point, and the entire look was making it difficult for Sylvain to function.

  
“Why are you here?” Felix asked finally, sheathing his sword. Sylvain thought a moment before answering.

  
“I was having some trouble in paradise.” He said finally, an attempt at a playful smile on his lips. Felix rolled his eyes.

  
“You didn’t come here before dawn because you wanted to talk girl problems—“

  
Sylvain placed a hand on Felix’s cheek, cutting him off. “I didn’t say anything about girl problems. I said I was having trouble in paradise.” He waited for Felix to catch on, realizing that maybe Claude had been wrong and he’d horribly misjudged the situation. Before he could remove his hand and come up with a clever excuse, however, Felix covered Sylvain’s hand with his own. It must have been more instinctual than planned because afterwards Felix looked just as surprised as Sylvain.

  
“I— I understand. I think.” Felix muttered, dropping his eyes to the floor but keeping his hand firm on Sylvain’s. “I was worried that you’d gotten bored of me,” Felix added quietly, and Sylvain started to laugh. Felix recoiled, pulling his hand away instinctively, and Sylvain tried to pull himself together.

  
“I’m sorry I just— You have to understand—“ he was still chuckling, speaking between catching his breath,” I thought _you_ had given up on _me_. I thought me yelling at you was the last straw. I’d never imagined, well… _this_.” Sylvain stepped closer to him and carefully placed a hand on Felix’s waist. “I was jealous, Felix. I was jealous and stupid. Forgive me?”

  
Felix was still staring at him dubiously, as if he was going to start laughing again and tell him it was all just some practical joke. He must’ve decided against it, however, because a second later he was melting into Sylvain, embracing him in a way he hadn’t before. Sylvain didn’t waste a moment of it, wrapping his arms tightly around Felix and burying his face in Felix’s messy hair.

  
“I forgive you,” Felix mumbled into Sylvain’s shirt, voice muffled by the fabric but his intention clear. When they finally pulled away, Felix was looking at him differently, as if he was seeing him for the first time. “How long?”

  
Sylvain frowned, confused. “How long what?”

  
Felix sighed and took Sylvain’s hand in his own. “ _This._ How long have you felt like this? For me?” Sylvain blushed, suddenly embarrassed. “Ah, well…let’s see…” He rubbed the back of his neck, the tips of his ears burning. “Probably…since we were like, I don’t know, seven? Maybe six?”

  
Felix’s jaw dropped. “ _Seven?_ Are you kidding me?” He slapped Sylvain’s chest heatedly. “You kept this a secret from me since we were seven? I sat through all those girlfriends and crushes and bad dates just on the off chance you’d change your mind and look at me— and you’ve liked me since were _seven_?”

  
Sylvain grinned sheepishly. “Uh, yeah? I mean I did say maybe six—“ He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Before he knew it, Felix Hugo Fraldarius was kissing him, and nothing else in the world mattered.


End file.
